There are various types of vending machines and kiosks for dispensing prepaid credit cards, debit cards, phone cards, and other types of cards to customers. Such machines typically include a user interface for selecting a card, a monetary input device (e.g., a credit card reader or bill acceptor) for receiving payment, and an outlet for dispensing the card to the customer. In use, the customer selects a desired card with the user interface and deposits the required funds via the bill acceptor or credit card reader. Once the machine has confirmed the funds, a card dispenser housed within the machine dispenses the desired card to the consumer via the card outlet.
FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a card dispenser 100 configured in accordance with the prior art. The card dispenser 100 includes a card hopper 102 containing a plurality of cards 101, a card conveyor 104, a card reader 106, and a card outlet 108. In a typical vending machine application, the card dispenser 100 is housed within the machine so that only the card outlet 108 is exposed. In operation, after a user has selected a card and deposited the required funds, the card conveyor 104 removes the bottom-most card 101 from the hopper 102 and moves the card forward past the card reader 106.
As the card moves past the card reader 106, the card reader 106 reads information off a magnetic stripe on the card. The magnetic stripe can include one or more “tracks” of information. The information can include a unique code for associating the card with a particular account. For example, if the card is a prepaid credit card, then the code can be associated with a specific credit card account. Similarly, if the card is a prepaid phone card, then the code can be associated with a specific long-distance account. After moving past the card reader 106, the card conveyor 104 pushes the card through the card outlet 108 to be picked up by the user.
One shortcoming of the prior art card dispenser 100 is that it can only dispense a single type of card. As a result, additional card dispensers are required if more than one type of card is to be dispensed from a particular vending machine. Adding additional card dispensers, however, increases the cost, size, and weight of the vending machine. In addition, multiple card dispensers can increase the risk of card theft through the additional card outlets.
Another shortcoming of the prior art card dispenser 100 is that the card conveyor 104 removes cards from the bottom of the stack. This action can require substantial force when the card hopper 102 is full, and can lead to jams and other malfunctions during card dispensing. A further shortcoming of this design is that it is often difficult for the card reader 106 to read multiple card tracks in a single pass because of card misalignment and other factors. This leads to rejection of cards that would otherwise be usable if properly read.